S. Kris Abrams
Something brought you here. Maybe it was anxiety, grief, or anger about the state of the world, and frustration with conventional therapies that can't hold it. Maybe it was the sense that past approaches you’ve tried have given you insight without relief, that you understand your patterns but can't seem to change them. Maybe you've lost a loved one, or are in an intimate relationship that requires you to shrink, or are carrying wounds from a family, faith, or culture that couldn’t love you for who you are. Maybe you sense that an expansive, more powerful and purposeful life is possible.
Whoever you are and whatever brought you here, you've found a place that welcomes your whole self: mind, body, heart and soul.
My name is Kris Abrams, and I am a licensed psychotherapist and shamanic practitioner with 14 years of experience in private practice.
I have credentials, yet I didn't arrive at this work through a curriculum. I arrived through being broken open, repeatedly, and through learning that the living Earth holds us when human community fails. That path has shaped how I work: your wounds are not problems to be fixed. They are the very place where your beauty, strength, and gifts are waiting to emerge.
What my clients share is this: they show up willing. They stay curious even when it's hard. That willingness is what makes transformation possible, and it's what makes this work, after 14 years, a genuine joy.
As a psychotherapist, I work with the full spectrum of human experience: grief, anxiety, rage, relationship patterns, trauma, life transitions, identity, and purpose. My toolkit includes EMDR, Internal Family Systems, somatic emotion work, ecotherapy, and Non-Violent Communication. I offer psychotherapy to clients throughout Colorado, including remotely. I also have extensive experience supporting activists and changemakers who are navigating the particular pressures of movement culture: burnout, call-out dynamics, and the challenge of staying grounded while fighting for a world that doesn't yet exist.
As a shamanic practitioner, I work with clients who are ready to receive healing and guidance directly from Spirit and the living world. Through shamanic journeying and the Sacred Circle teachings that emerged from my own direct revelations, we enter into relationship with Helping Spirits and the living world in ways that can shift what years of other approaches sometimes cannot. Shamanic sessions are available to clients anywhere in the world, remotely.
These two offerings can be kept entirely separate, or woven together. That is always your choice. The foundation that unites them is welcoming you home to a reverent, reciprocal relationship with the natural world, where you always belong.
Your full self is welcome, and I bring my full self to this work. I'm a longtime solo wilderness backpacker and nature lover, a gay and gender-nonconforming person, and I fiercely love the world. My formal training includes:
Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Prescott College;
Advanced Shamanic Practitioner Training with Sandra Ingerman, one of the world's foremost teachers of shamanism, who has bridged ancient cross-cultural healing traditions with modern life for over four decades, plus 14 years of one-on-one mentorship with my first shamanic teacher;
Master’s in Economic and Social History from Oxford University, where I was a Rhodes Scholar;
12 years in progressive movement work, including as a senior producer at Democracy Now!.
If any of this resonates, the next step is a free 20-minute phone consultation. I'd love to hear what brought you here.
Email: kris@cedartreehealing.org, or fill out the contact form below.
Location & Accessibility
I see individuals and couples in Mancos, Colorado, between Durango and Cortez in the Four Corners region, and work with people around the world remotely. When you are ready, contact me.
Education & Training
Master’s of Philosophy, Economic and Social History from Oxford University. I was a Rhodes Scholar and wrote my master’s thesis on multiracial women’s organizing within the South African liberation movement;
Master’s of Science in Mental Health Counseling from Prescott College (focus on Ecopsychology and Wilderness Therapy);
Bachelor’s degrees in Neuroscience, and Philosophy of Science, from Brown University.
EMDR Level 1
Shamanic training: Advanced Practitioner Training with Sandra Ingerman (I am honored to be listed on her website as a practitioner), as well as one-on-one mentorship with my first shamanic teacher for over a decade.
Nonprofit & Activist Experience
Senior Producer, Democracy Now!, a national, independent news and public affairs program (2000-2003)
Communications, fundraising, grantmaking coordination, community organizing: Global Greengrants Fund, Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights, Let Us Rise, Chinook Fund, KGNU (2003-2012)
Writings
Horrified by our nation’s return to open fascism, I launched my public writing on Substack in December of 2024.
Retreats, Public Trainings, Presentations, & Groups
Healing Across the Racial Divide, Spring 2026, with Norma Johnson
Shamanism as a Way of Life: A Time for Shamanic Journeyers to Reclaim Rest, Connection, & Community, August, 2026
We Can See in the Dark: An 8-Week Online Shamanic Practice Circle, Fall 2025
Shamanism for Tough Times: Experiencing the Shamanic Journey in 2025, Sept. 5-7, Mancos, CO
Live with Joy: A nature-based therapy group for women I led for many years.
"Of Soul & Spirit: Conscious Incorporation of Spirituality & the Transpersonal into Wilderness/Adventure Therapy," a workshop co-created and co-facilitated with Katie Asmus and delivered to the Association for Experiential Education International Conference, Oct. 23, 2015 in Portland, OR, and to the International Adventure Therapy Conference, June 4, 2015 in Denver, CO.
"Working with Internalized Oppression in the Current Political Climate": An experiential workshop delivered to the Rocky Mountain Regional Conference of the Association for Experiential Education, shortly after the election of 45.
"How Does Nature Heal? An Experiential Introduction to Nature-Based Psychotherapy," Presented by The Women's Wilderness Institute at Summit Sisters, June 3-5, 2016.
"Towards Authenticity, Connection, Meaning and Joy: Lessons from Shamanism," Delivered January 20, 2016 at Interface Boulder. Click here to purchase an audio recording. Also delivered to the Prescott College Master's Students Colloquium, April, 2016.
Honoring Change: Ceremony, Ritual, & Rite of Passage as Tools for Transformation
A Prescott College Intensive for Adventure Therapy and Ecopsychology Master’s students, General Counseling and Education Master’s students, and alumni, therapists and educators. I was the assistant teacher for Katie Asmus, April 2-6, 2017.
"Collaborations with the Natural World: Nature-Based Interventions for working with trauma and nervous system regulation in educational and therapeutic settings." A Prescott College Intensive for Master's Students in Education and Counseling Psychology. I was the assistant teacher for Katie Asmus, April 11-14, 2016.
"The Alchemy of Change: Transforming Your Intentions into Action," a workshop delivered at the Boulder Bioneers Conference, Oct. 25, 2015. Click here for more info. Also delivered to the Prescott College Master's Students Colloquium, April, 2016.
"Why Nature Heals," a talk delivered to the Inaugural Symposium of MeSimple on April 25, 2015.
"Helping People to Live Lives of Connection, Meaning and Joy: Lessons from Shamanism," a talk delivered to the Boulder Institute for Psychotherapy and Research on June 19, 2015.
The Women's Wilderness Institute Presents: Live a Joyful Life! An 8-week, nature-based therapy group for women. September-November 2015.
Living What Matters: a 6-week workshop designed to help you clarify your vision for your life in partnership with nature.
Experiments in Joy: Exploring your spiritual relationship with Nature. A 4-week experiential training designed to help you deepen your spiritual relationship with Nature.